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looding from heavy rains this week washed out roads and rail lines throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, causing part of Interstate 88 in New York state to collapse and leading to accidents that killed two truckers Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
The storm killed at least 12 people throughout the East Coast, including the two truckers in New York, AP said.
The two I-88 truckers — one headed east, the other west — separately drove their trucks into a 25-foot deep hole created by a collapsed culvert, in heavy rain conditions, AP reported.
The rain and flooding stretched from Virginia north into Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York and a 117-mile section of the New York Thruway in the Mohawk Valley was shut down until Thursday, AP said.
New York Gov. George Pataki (R) issued disaster declarations for parts of central and eastern New York, while Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) declared 46 of that state’s 67 counties disaster areas.
Forecasters said runoff from the rain could drive water levels around the state even higher through Thursday, and the government offices in Trenton, N.J., the state’s capital, were closed Thursday.
